Friday, November 19, 2010

...are you most fascinated by at this very moment? Tell us in the comments.

There can be more than one of course but at this very moment I'd have to go with Julie Christie. I was bored of my desktop image a week or two ago so I switched it to this (from Don't Look Now, 1973) and I can't stop staring at the screen. I fear Julie herself will have to snap her fingers to wake me from this hypnotic trance.*

Anna Karina. There are two particular moments in Vivre sa vie that have me transfixed: the opening credits where Godard fixes his camera on her face for an uncomfortable amount of time and the moment when she's talking to the philosopher in the restaurant and her eyes casually look into and pierce through the camera.

What I love about Morton is that you wonder what's in her head even when she is not acting. Google any red carpet photo and you'll still be caught guessing. Who is that woman? Where did she came from? What's up with her eyes? Is she cold, is she sad, does she have a great love hidden in her heart? She is enigmatic and earthy, like a more radical version of Juliette Binoche in her best roles. I hope I never discover what's about Morton. That's why I love her.

cal -- agreed on the sphinx like Morton. MYSTERIOSO. I rewatched MINORITY REPORT on the plane back from Iceland (they only had 7 options for movies and I was not going to sit through sex & the city 2 or prince of persia again thank u very much and just loved her in it all over again.

I still have a lot of issues with the movie itself but it's so watchable.

Bryce Dallas Howard. Every time i see her on screen, I am mesmerized. Then when I shake myself awake and ask what's been happening in the movie, I realize nothing has been happening. The action thuds to a stop when she comes on. She just can't act. But so beautiful. So I realize the fascination in wanting to be the director who figures out how to use her.

In the last movie I saw Howard in, Hereafter, I also watched Cecile de France closely - I hadn't seen her before and she's got such a great face, so alive and immediately understandable.

It was approximately a week and a half ago I was reading a review of Mary Queen of Scots and there was a shot of Vanessa Redgrave and Glenda Jackson and I couldn't stop staring at Vanessa. I mean, good god that woman is gorgeous. I'm always so mesmerised by her voice I keep forgetting that she's beautiful. Even now she's still a beautiful woman (she managed to make Letters to Juliet watchable for me).

[Incidentally I used to be interested in Glenda Jackson's cheekbones which I thought that Cate Blanchett had stolen some way along the lines. Is it just me or is the resemblance between the two uncanny?)

Kathleen Quinlan as Patricia Kennealy in The Doors, she’s been a crush of mine since. Not a favorite but she’s the only female character/performance I can rely on when not being giddy about Val Kilmer.

Paul Newman. I picked up a copy of Slap Shot today, and having watched Butch Cassidy a couple of weeks ago, I still find myself amazed by the amount of cool and nonchalance emanating from the screen each second Newman is shown.

JA is pushing me in the Alain Delon direction (and yay - there's really never not a reason to post lots of pics of a younger Delon), but I'll go with Lee Pace. I really should watch The Fall again at some point.

Oh man,I LOVE Julie Christie's face. I just saw Shampoo the other day (and don't get me started about her, um, backside in those tight polyester pants) - the cheekbones, the pouty lower lip, the sad/mysterious eyes. She's just got it all.

The only contemporary actress that leaps to mind is Cate Blanchett. Always the same, and yet so always different in every movie. How does she do it?

And going WAY back, the keylight on Marlene Dietrich is amazing. Very early Dorothy Lamour is shockingly, um, ripe. Who else? Garbo & Bergman, yes of course. And Kate & Audrey & Lauren for amazing bone structure that caught the light just so.

I think that Carey Mulligan and Abbie Cornish have a lot of depth to their faces, especially in their eyes, and coupled with their low voices - warm AND cool at the same time.But in terms of all-time great faces, I can never tear my eyes away from Monica Vitti's. Incredibly arresting and eloquent. You should write more about her Nathaniel!And of course I second Ingrid Bergman and Anna Karina.

Cate Blanchett. Her cheekbones are so defined, and usually cheekbones like hers look weird on people. But the rest of her face looks like it is crafted by like an angel of some sort. She has the most amazing porcellain skin, too. God bless Cate Blanchett.

Judy Davis. Always. Her brand of intelligent, neurotic artistry takes no prisoners time and time again. Even as she ages her power and sex-appeal don't diminish - I for one cannot wait for the TWO big-screen outings she has lined-up for next year - praise be for directors who are making it their mission to rescue Judy from TV-movie hell.